The imbalance of power

J.R. Nyquist, a WorldNetDaily contributing editor and a renowned expert in geopolitics and international relations, is the author of "Origins of the Fourth World War." Visit his news-analysis and opinion site, JRNyquist.com.

A great thing gained its independence 223 years ago. It is a thing that is now systematically betrayed by internationalist dreamers, multinational corporations, and corrupt government officials. I am talking about a nation. And that is what we are — we Americans. We are a country, a unity, a people. We are the greatest country that the world has ever seen.

But behind this lingering greatness, America’s ruling establishment distrusts the very idea of an American nation. Time and again they choose to undermine the nation with multiculturalism, free trade, open borders, legal and illegal immigration, U.N. treaties and other internationalist errata. Our leaders, both Republican and Democrat, have succumbed to ideologies which pretend to stand above the nation. Whether it is GATT and NAFTA, Albanians in Kosovo, or amnesty for illegal immigrants, the policies of the day are destructive of American sovereignty and independence.

The nation-state, whatever its drawbacks, has been a vehicle for culture, democracy, and freedom. A people that fails to develop its own nation-state is destined for misery, even persecution. That is why independence is so important. That is why the Kosovars, Palestinians, and Kurds — to name but a few — struggle so violently for land and statehood. A man without a country, without a homeland, is a man who has lost something vital.

To some extent Americans have taken their nation for granted. President Clinton’s famous campaign slogan captures the disorientation of the moment. “It’s the Economy, Stupid” reflects a perversity — a latter-day sickness. Somehow America has ceased to be a nation. It is now an economy backed by a military that is slated for reform. To this end the Pentagon is being internationalized and feminized. The patriotic American fighting man is forced to wear a blue helmet. He is no longer the defender of a country, but the defender of commercial and internationalist agendas. Meanwhile, back in the U.S.A., as long as the shopping mall regime continues to produce the good things people want — at cheap prices — all is well.

But this is an error, an illusion. Worse yet, it is a blind alley.

In large part the country is unaware of the danger it is courting. Our leaders are generally confused. With a few exceptions, the Republicans attack and destroy the nation for the sake of economic efficiency. The Democrats destroy and attack the nation for the sake of various egalitarian projects. When, by chance, one party proposes something purely nationalistic, the other party opposes that proposition in the name of higher ideals. So the nation is orphaned, lost, set adrift. Even as I write these words, America is shopping itself into disintegration, enjoying an existence predicated on materialistic values — guided by hedonistic impulses.

But as Cicero pointed out more than 2,000 years ago, nations are founded on self-sacrifice, self-control, and self-denial. There never was a great nation founded on material selfishness or pleasure-seeking. In 1776 the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were not acting as businessmen, contrary to the cynicism of our latter-day historians. They were taking a terrible chance. After all, they were defying Great Britain — the superpower of the 18th century. A little over a decade before, during the Seven Years War, Britain had conquered India and Canada. In her dominance of the world’s oceans, in commercial wealth, Great Britain represented a seemingly invincible power. But this did not stop the fathers of our country. The idea of an American nation was foremost in their mind. Career advantage — ever present — was yet secondary.

But today the nation has been lost amid other priorities. These include the environment, world peace, freedom, universal human equality and the New World Order. Strangely, these ideals coincide with emerging material interests, careers, and the bureaucracy’s lust for ever-increasing control over human activity.

Funny, too, that Third World nationalism is respectable and stylish. It is fashionable to be a nationalist if you are African, Asian, or Latin American. But an American nationalist is someone stupid, dangerous, and out-of-date. The American nationalist is suspected of bigotry, chauvinism, even racism. He is sometimes called a fascist. His exclusivity is the bane of the all-inclusive and the multicultural. If a future civil war breaks out in America, then he is to blame.

Many professors, intellectuals, and do-gooders would like to eradicate the United States as a world power. To their shallow minds, world government and internationalism are the Holy Grail. Therefore, day by day, they attack and undermine our nation. They attack the foundations of their own liberty. They refuse to teach patriotism in the schools. They refuse to respect the Founding Fathers. They Balkanize the American Republic, turning our citizenry into a disorganized rabble that can only be governed by totalitarian devices.

Today America needs a new Declaration of Independence. America needs leaders who will stand for the nation against the corrupt ideals of the internationalists. We need leaders who will curb the multinational corporations, who will stop them from selling supercomputers and other sensitive technology to China and Russia. We need a government of self-restraint and self-discipline to replace the scandal-ridden disgrace that currently passes for an administration. We need politicians who will put their lives on the line. In other words, we need patriots.